efuse to do me this small favour, my lord?" said Bertha.

But before the host had time to reply Hans had already grasped the
goblet greedily and drained it dry. The effect was not immediate, but
after about twenty minutes Hans fell back in his chair in a state of the
most perfect insensibility.

"I am afraid," said the host, "that your Royal Highness's brave champion
has partaken a little too freely of the contents of my cellar. It is an
accident that is apt to befall the best of us. I am sorry for his state,
though I cannot but feel it a compliment to my wine."

The princess answered not save by a look of scorn. Then, fearing that
the nobleman would offer to remove her to another room while he procured
men to remove the helpless body of her spouse, as well as secure her
person, and bring her, in spite of herself, into her sister's power, who
was sure to make away with her secretly, she touched herself with her
wand, and instantly she became invisible.

The lord searched the chamber in every corner, for his first object was
to make himself master of the person of the princess, but failing in
finding her, he next began to unbuckle Hans' armour, and examined every
plate as he stripped him of it in his careful search for the tiny
princess. He grew more puzzled than ever at not finding her, and ordered
the other lordlings to search the house. This they did for an hour or
more without success, when, fearing that Hans might awaken from his
trance, he ordered a litter to be brought, upon which he securely bound
our champion.

The helpless knight was then borne upon the shoulders of four strong
men, and carried to the common prison, where he was fettered hand and
foot, and left in a dungeon, deep, damp and chilly, being in a state of
unconsciousness all the while. The princess, however, though invisible,
followed her husband. If she had chosen, she could have rendered him
also invisible, and spirited him away out of harm's reach, but she would
not.

"No," she said to herself, "let him reap the fruits of his folly. He
will learn better by experience than by my precepts. I will not come
forward to help him until the last."

Now, when Hans was left alone in his cell--that is to say, alone save
the invisible presence of his spouse--it was already getting late. The
effect of the potion was to last for five hours, during the whole of
which time--and who knew how much longer--the princess was doomed to
breathe the damp air of